Angelves
by Miss Lovelin
Summary: AU in which elves are quite literally the guardian angels of humans, complete with lore and worldbuilding.
1. You Never Realized You Had An Ally

**I don't own Hilda.**

**tumblr and discord users might know this one**

**granted you'll find a buttload of stuff on tumblr for this AU so feel free to look it up if you're curious!**

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Living in the wilderness your entire life would open doors to many different dangers.

Hilda knew her corner of the world like the back of her hand, but by no means could she expect the day to day wonders and perils of nature.

But trauma... was always something she managed to escape somehow.

"Look, Twig, those are woffs!" She jumped directly on a woff's head and it went wild. She made it off with merely a few scratches and messy hair.

"Look, Twig, these are iron pines!" She climbed the tallest tree and fell, only to be safely caught by stray branches on her way down.

"Look, Twig, a forest giant!" She actually tried to climb a forest giant. Needless to say, she nearly got smacked but the giant tripped and missed his mark, faceplanting and allowing Hilda to escape unharmed.

"Look, Twig, I think I could summon a water spirit!" She could've drowned that day... if it weren't for her bizarre buoyancy. She came back home with a cold.

Just a few examples.

What kind of adventure would she throw herself into now?

"Look, Twig! It's a troll rock!"

The blue haired girl and her deerfox observed the boulder, the latter looking a mixture of frightened and annoyed, staying put a little ways away from the menacing stone.

"They're just rocks during the day, boy, don't worry!" Hilda laughs, pulling out her little black sketchbook, "I have to draw it."

She started out drawing the rock but began to stray from the original prompt, starting to doodle on the page until dusk. She didn't even think to put a bell on the troll's nose, but still...

The rock crumbles and Twig whimpers. Hilda looks up to see a pair of angry glowing eyes glaring at her.

Without question, they run. The troll gave chase, though it didn't want to go very far aside from getting the human out of its personal space.

When Hilda and Twig lose track of the troll, they huddle behind a tree to breathe. Something flickers, catching Hilda's attention. She glances around in surprise, but Twig gives her a confused look.

_Was it a flashlight? A firefly? A lantern?_

The girl stands up, and sees the flash again, a light that seemed... enthralling, somehow. It grew brighter until it looked like a shining orb small enough that Hilda could hold it in her hands. Yet Twig continued to look concerned for Hilda, as if he didn't see anything at all. Out of confusion, Hilda ran again, Twig in pursuit, all the way home. But the light followed, and it was fast.

The light chased Hilda into the cottage, through the door and up the stairs into her bedroom. She had attempted using pieces of furniture to block it, but it was unstoppable. She hid under her bed to hide from it as a last resort.

"What do you want!?" she asks in alarm.

A soft sigh escapes the glimmering sphere. Hilda peeks out from under the bed. It's simply floating there. Looking closely at it made her feel... comfortable, somehow. It seemed warm and familiar despite never seeing it before in her life.

"Hilda," it quietly calls her name. She feels obligated to stand up, crawling out of the dark.

The light slowly dims to reveal a tiny, fuzzy figure hovering before her, clearly masculine, clad in white, a bright golden halo over his head, and large fluffy white wings. Hilda felt compelled to pet them but figured it would be rude- the creature already looked angry enough. What was more striking was the lack of several physical features; his arms and legs were literally just sticks. He looked kind of like a little makeshift doll, Hilda thought. He was cute, but his aura seemed a little threatening.

"A little angel," Hilda mutters quietly to herself more so than her unearthly guest, "um... can I ask who you are and why you chased me? How do you know my name?"

"I'm not just _an_ angel. I'm _your_ angel," the angel replies, rather crossly, though he had a very pleasant voice, "or, ang_elf, _if that fits your sense of humor."

"...Mine," Hilda echoes, confused.

"Your _guardian_ angel," he clarifies, "everyone has one. Even your deerfox does... well, she's an angel nitten."

"Ah? I didn't know that," Hilda starts.

"Some choose to stay unseen by whom they were assigned, but we are with you your entire life," he explains gently.

"I see..." Hilda felt a little embarrassed and definitely had more questions in mind than what came out of her mouth, "so... you've been protecting me all this time? Why would you choose to appear to me now?"

The angel's gaze suddenly becomes fiercely intimidating towards Hilda. She steps back cautiously. His little cheeks puff out in anger as he starts a oddly quiet speech...

Or, more like a rant.

"_Do you have any idea how much power I use up to keep you from fatal accidents every day!? You never listen! I literally have to manipulate fate itself for you. Multiple times! A day! It's exhausting! Eleven years and I don't even get a 'thank you'-"_

"Thank you," Hilda interrupts.

"I-" the angel's face flushes bright red, "wh-what?"

"I said, 'thank you'," Hilda repeats, "and I'm sorry that I've been overworking you. If I had known you were the one behind all my good luck I would have been more careful and considerate."

The angel blinks slowly. The atmosphere about him suddenly changes. His eyes softened.

"Hilda... Wait, wait... did I just... did I just _yell _at you!?"

He suddenly bursts into tears. Hilda is understandably unsure what to think.

"Oh, God, I'm so sorry! I don't have the right to lose my temper like that, especially not towards you! My own child!" He takes Hilda's hands despite not having any himself, "I'm supposed to be the light that guides you to happiness, not the light that chases you for half a mile through the woods at night! Oh, God..."

The girl watches her angelf with mild concern and guilt. When he held her hands she felt a surge of warmth. She felt safe.

"It's okay, sir, you were stressed... everyone has limits... I suppose tonight I pushed it too far." Hilda looks down.

"I'm still sorry. I must've been an absolute burden to protect for so long. You don't have to-"

"_Excuse me?" _the angel looks upset again, the fierce aura returning as he flies right into her face, before calming down again and hugging her, nuzzling her nose.

"You are not a burden, Hilda! I've been with you since the moment you were born... I wouldn't give you up for the world. I love you so, so much..."

Hilda feels tears in the corners of her eyes.

"Besides," the angel continues, "it's my job as a guardian angel to protect you, and I intend to keep that job.

"It's so nice to formally meet you, Hilda," he lands on the floor and bows gracefully like a knight towards a princess, spreading out his wings, "Guardian Angel of the Eighth Order, Alfur at your service."

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**Worldbuilding for this was really fun oml**

**we have some wholesome cheese but there's also some crazy stuff so hold onto your hat**

**I have two Hilda projects to work on now but I was really excited to share my AU and see what yall think of my garbage**

**See you next time!**


	2. One Question At A Time

**I don't own Hilda.**

**Here's a little lore in the form of a Q&A.**

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Hilda had, as expected, several questions regarding the bizarre phenomenon that she was experiencing. The angel manages to answer them all with patience.

"So you've been around this whole time, but no one else can see you but me?" Hilda inquires.

"The whole time. It is just you that can see me, but that works for all angelves and their charges. Once we're assigned to a soul, we're bound to them for eternity, unless _something_ interferes- but angelves can see one another, but humans can only physically see their own if the angel wills it."

"And Heaven... it's real?"

"Where do you think I came from?" Alfur retorts, a laugh in his voice.

"So that means, the other place..." Hilda felt incredibly awkward and knowing the word she was looking for was a common cuss, she didn't want to offend the heavenly being before her, "the, the... um, bad one..."

"Please, just because I'm an angel does not mean you're prohibited from saying "Hell"," the angel replies flatly, "and yes, that exists too. Both realms exist in different forms from what you would expect, though. It's simply one passage to the afterlife, you see. Everyone has their own personal Heaven -or Hell, in certain cases- created and inspired from the knowledge we angelves learn about our charges during their lifetimes."

"Wow," the girl murmurs, slightly mindblown by such revelations being told to her in casual conversation- casual conversation with a real angel, no less. This day had proven to be quite possibly the strangest day in her entire life- and she has had a large number of strange days.

"Wait- how much do you know about me, then!?" The girl jolts up towards the angel, who backs up in surprise.

"Please tell me this isn't a watching-you-every-second kind of thing, because-"

"Calm down. We know when there's something we shouldn't be watching. We don't stoop so low as to invade privacy. Frankly, I've never even seen the inside of a bathroom-"

"_CAN WE NOT DISCUSS THIS!?" _Hilda asks, face bright red. It came out louder than she'd wanted it to be.

"Sorry- I'm glad for that information," she sighs, "but it's an uncomfortable topic."

Alfur sits on the ground, seeming very relieved himself.

"I'd rather this not be the subject we end our conversation on."

"Me neither. Can I ask about other angels? You said Twig has one," Hilda glances at the deerfox, who had fallen asleep once the situation had calmed down, "and if everyone has one, that means Mum does too."

Alfur nods.

"Creatures like Twig have angel nittens. They're like very tiny cats. Twig's in particular is named Tuva." He tilts his head, "she can't really talk, so that's what we call her, anyway."

"And Mum's?"

"Agnes is... difficult to talk to."

"Does Woodman have an angel?"

"No, that anomaly of nature you call "Woodman" does not and cannot have an angel."

"That... explains a lot of things, actually," Hilda replies thoughtfully, "and... why are you all so small, anyway? Do demons exist, too? And how did you end up with me? I require all the knowledge!"

Alfur gives Hilda a unimpressed stare in response to her last quip.

"We are small because we act as our charges' conscience as well as their guardian. You may have heard the little voice in your head telling you to do or not to do certain things?"

"Yes, it's kind of annoying," Hilda answers.

"...That's me," Alfur replies flatly.

"I'm sorry-!"

"You'll be happy to know that when it comes to being kind and doing the right thing for other people, you usually listen through," Alfur smiles, "that apology is a shining example of how you choose to be kind, even without my input. But when you go and do risky things- such as what you did with the troll rock earlier- you don't think about your safety at all, so I have to step in. But to explain one reason why we're so small, we usually sit on one shoulder while monitoring our charges, and at the end of the day, we send in a daily report and evaluation of their behavior."

"Seems pretty boring," the girl murmurs.

"Reports are fun," the angel retorts, sounding offended before changing the subject, "as for your next question, demons do exist. We call them Marras. They're commonly known as nightmare spirits and are believed by humans to simply give nightmares to whomever they visit. But there's something far more sinister about them that we angels must protect our humans from. Marras are also one of many reasons why we were tasked with watching over humans. Creatures have the angel nittens to protect them from peril, too, but humans are in much more danger with Marras around."

"What's the sinister thing?" Hilda persists, "Please, I want to know. You brought it up."

"I'd rather not tell you now. I'd rather you be mentally sound as long as possible," Alfur replies simply, "so, as for your last question, angels are meant to be like matching puzzle pieces to the human they are assigned to, if you will. You tend to seek attention and I tend to give it. You simply weren't aware that I existed until now."

"...Have you fought a Marra before?"

"I have. They rarely appear because it's simply been you and your mum here for so long. They like more populated places. But, on the occasion, they have shown up. I'm stronger than you might think, though. I have never let one get very far."

Hilda tries to imagine something so small going up against a larger demon and can't help but giggle to herself. But knowing how well she had been protected before, she thinks, she ought to take Alfur's word for it.

The clock read 12:46 AM.

"I need to sleep," Hilda turns off her bedroom light, only to see Alfur glowing like a night light. As she clambers onto her bed, she looks at him. His presence gave a strange sense of comfort, especially with him lighting up the room.

"Will I see you again tomorrow?" she asks.

"I can't really say no, since I've already revealed my existence to you," the angel answers quietly, "but I'll have you know that even if you can't see me, I'm always here."

His wings lightly brush against her face.

"...Do you sleep?" The girl asks. She hated how high pitched her voice was when she spoke those words.

"Sometimes. Don't really have to, though. Good night, Hilda."

"Good night."

The angel vanishes and the room goes dark immediately. Hilda can't help but feel a little lonely, until Twig hops up onto the bed beside her, curling up by her head. She held onto him throughout the night.

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**marras are even worse in this universe. yes.**

**I've always been interested in the afterlife. As an agnostic who doesn't know what to believe in, I'd like to believe there's something, at the very least. Also I like angels and alfur is the goodest good boy so here's this AU**

**See you next time when the lore may or may not get a little more funky**


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